Shotguns first came into use in the early 1600s. The first two-barrel shotgun appeared in 1873, and the first modern, hammerless, pump-action shotgun was produced in 1904. By the turn of the 20th century, they were immensely popular. Many military officers loved their personal shotguns so much that they brought them along instead of sidearms to World War I, earning them the nickname “trench guns.” Since then, shotguns have become a permanent part of the military arsenal and a part of the everyday lives of many civilians as well.
For any firearm to do its job it must first make contact with the target and secondly hit the target in a critical spot. A shotgun provides a wider stream of potentially deadly projectiles. As long as the target is within its effective range, a shotgun will give you a much better chance of making critical contact with one pull of the trigger.
The shotgun is an indispensable tool—on the farm, in combat and on the hunt. They are just as useful in non-lethal situations, such as, for scaring away pests or for opening locked doors in a police or military situation, as they are for big game hunting.
For most firearms, including a shotgun, the basic workings include sending ammunition out of a long cylinder called a barrel, loading and unloading of new and spent ammunition. When the trigger is pulled, a hammer or firing pin strikes an explosive charge on the back of a cartridge or bullet. This causes a small explosion that changes the air pressure in the barrel, forcing whatever is in front of the explosion, such as a bullet or metal pellets, out the other side at speeds measuring several thousand feet per second (fps).
All shotguns have some of the same basic components. Starting from the end nearest to the shooter, there's often a stock that allows the user to steady it against the user's shoulder muscles. Some manufacturers put a recoil pad at the end of the stock to help dampen the kick that is felt when the gun is fired. Moving forward from the stock, all the parts associated with firing. This includes the trigger that connects the sear and hammer. Some shotguns have a pistol grip that extends downward below the trigger.
The hammer activates the bolt assembly and firing pin, which rests against the cartridge to be fired. Next is the chamber, where the loading, unloading and firing happens. The chamber can be accessible from the side or the top. Connecting the chamber is the barrel which is the long tube that the ammo travels through as it leaves the gun. Some shotguns have a magazine connected to the chamber, this may take the form of a second, shorter tube below the barrel or else a drum or rectangular cartridge that snaps into the barrel. There may also be a fore-end, usually spelled forend (a sliding handle colloquially known as a pump) attached to the shorter tube, which is used to partially automate the loading and unloading process. On top of the barrel, there is a bump or notch that is used as a crude sight.
A representative sample of known prior art includes patents and the patent publication discussed below.
U.S. Patent Publication 2008/0121096 to Hajjar et al. shows a high-capacity magazine for holding a cartridge for use with a firearm; the magazine comprises a plurality of tubes being defined within the magazine and axisymmetric about a longitudinal axis.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,380,361 to Hajjar et al. shows a magazine comprising a plurality of tubes being defined within the magazine and axisymmetric about a longitudinal axis; the magazine further includes a bias, e.g., spring, contained within the magazine for urging the cartridge toward the open end of the tube wherein the retainer, actuator, and bias cooperate to expel the cartridge from the magazine in response to movement of the trigger assembly. Mechanisms for releasing, receiving, and maneuvering ammunition into a barrel, as well as the hammer, safety, and firing mechanism, are preferably contained within a pistol-grip lower receiver and are of relatively conventional design.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,721 to Murello shows a feed fork that lifts the cartridge upward into a feed station where it supports the cartridge such that the longitudinal axes of the barrel and the cartridge coincide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,947 to Murello discloses a tubular magazine beneath the barrel and includes a liftable and lowering device controlled by the breech movement to lift the cartridge to a feed station in which the cartridge is situated behind the barrel; a feed fork is provided which functions as lifting device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,810 to Stead et al. shows magazine well comprised of tubular magazine members wherein ejection from magazine is by camming action and feed member retains the cartridge in position until the cartridge is complementally and slidably received into the barrel. A gate member is mounted at an open end of the tubular magazine members to inhibit ejection of the cartridge from the tubular member.
The state of the art describing firearms with tubular magazines and means for loading and engaging cartridges prior to 1985, is shown in the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,459 to Childers; U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,631 to Domian; U.S. Pat. No. 3,213,558 to Asker; U.S. Pat. No. 3,172,222 to E. S. Vartanian; U.S. Pat. No. 3,003,274 to C. H. Morse et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,871,603 to R. H. Wild; U.S. Pat. No. 2,765,557 to W. F. Rober; U.S. Pat. No. 2,704,491 to G. Prola et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 2,333,677 to W. C. Roemer; U.S. Pat. No. 2,271,576 to Wilcox; U.S. Pat. No. 2,094,577 to N. Brewer; U.S. Pat. No. 1,481,042 to Fritz et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 1,343,444 to G. M. Formby.
The patents and patent publication listed above disclose the variations around the use of tubular magazines on firearms, but do not disclose an easy to manufacture, light weight firearm with a stamped sheet metal receiver, and an inverted U-shaped sheet metal profile covering the hollow stock that is open at the bottom for loading cartridges and ejection of spent cases. The simplicity of the design the firearm satisfies the need for a reliable weapon of the shotgun variety that is low cost, light weight and smaller in size than traditional shotguns.